By Romulo P. Baquiran, Jr., Filipinas Institute of Translation

“Lobat” is declared word of the year during the Sawikaan 2006: Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Salita ng Taon, an annual language conference sponsored by the Filipinas Institute of translation, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and the Blas F. Ople Foundation.

Sawikaan 2006 looked at the development of Filipino as a national language and focuses on new words or phrases that were popular in the local socio-cultural scene in the preceding year.

An article by Ateneo professor Jelson E. Capilos, “lobat” is chosen by the the conference participants as one of the five finalists that included “botox,” “toxic,” “spa,” and “orocan.” The
first runner up is “botox” by Dr. Luis Gatmaitan and second is “toxic” by UP instructor Michael Andrada. Continue reading

Consumer advocacy group TXTPower immediately rejected President Arroyo’s newly-created task force seeking to impose mandatory registration of SIM cards and cellphones as a way to curb cellphone theft, dubbing the move “ineffective”, “makes cellphone thieves happy” and “dangerous to civil liberties”.

“Cellphone theft and murders continue because of the incompetence of the Philippine National Police in running after, prosecuting and convicting thieves and syndicates before the courts. This impunity cannot be solved by Mrs. Arroyo’s proposed plan to require mandatory registration,” said TXTPower co-founder and co-convenor Anthony Ian Cruz. Continue reading